Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	civil_a	magistrate_n	matter_n	3,433	5	6.0251	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61434	Of prayers for the dead whether the practice and tradition thereof in the Church be truly Catholick, and a competent evidence of apostolick original and authority? : humbly tendred to the consideration of ...	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.	1699 (1699)	Wing S5432; ESTC R24617	43,790	52

OF PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD Whether the Practice and Tradition thereof in the CHURCH be truly CATHOLICK and a competent Evidence of Apostolick Original and Authority Humbly tendred to the Consideration of the Right Honourable the JUDGES and of the Gentlemen of the Honourable Profession of the LAW With a PREFACE concerning the Reasons thereof and the Concern of the Nation that the Differences about Religion be better considered in order to a more firm Foundation of an Honourable and Lasting PEACE LONDON Printed in the Year 1699. To the Right Honourable John Lord Summers Baron of Evesham Lord High Chancellour of England Sir John Holt Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench Sir George Treby Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Edward Ward Lord Chief Baron and the rest of the Honourable Judges May it please Your Lordships THough at first to some it may seem strange and improper to offer a Theological Controversie to the Consideration of Magistrates and Judges of Civil Causes yet if the present Constitution of the Church of England the Nature of the Question and the special Qualifications of the Persons for the Consideration of such a Question besides the Common Concern of all States and Persons in Matters of Religion be well consider'd nothing can be more reasonable A Church professing and glorying in the Profession of a Religion Established by Law and so intirely subject to the Authority of the State that it cannot call a Synode choose a Bishop Dean or Prebend make a Canon or alter any publick Prayers of the Church without it a Question of Prescription Vsage and Custom than which none are more frequently examined tryed and determined in our Civil Courts and by consequence no Persons more proper to give a Judgment upon such a Question because none more versed and expert in Cases of that nature than those of the Honourable Profession of the Law Besides Your Lordships and the rest of that Honourable Profession have another Qualification indispensably requisite to a just and true Judgment Indifferency and Freedom from any special Prejudice more than what is common to the whole Nation and as much above that as any Persons in it I mean that of Education by which tho' the inconsiderate Vulgar and People of little Judgment are very strangely affected and moved either fondly affecting or childishly abhorring what hath nothing of real Good or Evil but what proceeds from an abused or deceived Imagination yet Men of Parts Judgment and Experience can more easily extricate themselves out of the fetters and manacles of such Impressions and Prejudice upon consideration of sufficient Grounds and Reasons But the Generality of the English Clergy and Non-Conformists are under a double special Prejudice and Pre-ingagement the Authority and Credit of their Party and their own in particular having not only imbibed a Special Opinion in the Case but inconsiderately asserted and so espoused it also besides the Prudential Caution of not disobliging or offending their Auditors tho' many Protestants in other Parts are of another Opinion and the most learned here have deserted the old Cause both in their Disputes in the Vniversity and in their Controversial Writings And therefore as every honest Man in any Difference would desire the Judgment of such as are most indifferent unbyassed and impartial so every wise Man will desire that they may be Persons of most Ability Skill and expert in such Matters And in both these respects I know none more proper to judge of this Case than Your Lordships and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession Nor is this all that You are thus qualified to judge of this matter but you have also a Concern a double Concern in it but that it may be fairly and truly determined a Concern which obligeth you to Impartiality that the Truth may be cleared and an End put to such Differences both in regard to the Places you hold and the Interest you have in the Civil State of the Nation and in regard of your Personal Interest and particular Concerns both in this Life and hereafter For Matters of Religion are of no little Importance to the Well-being of States as well as of particular Persons and to the Well-being of particular Persons as well in this Life as hereafter And all this in a double respect in respect to the Providence of God and in respect of their Natural Efficacy and Tendency It is very manifest that almost all the Vnhappiness Troubles and Disturbance which this Nation hath suffered for more than 150 Years last past have proceeded from unhappy Differences about Matters of Religion And it would be as evident if duly considered that there is as little Likelyhood if Possibility of any long Continuance of Peace without some proper Application to so fatal a Root of Mischief amongst us for the Extirpation or Suppression of it Nor is this so vain unreasonable or impracticable a thing to be thought on or attempted as most Men are apt to presume upon the Vnsuccessfulness of the Attempts which have been made if better consider'd It is no unusual thing for Men to learn from the Errors of former Attempts so to correct their Methods and Measures as to accomplish with ease what others with great Labour were not able to effect Many things in Practice are like Riddles in Speculation which after many have found insoluble by their utmost Study appear at last when the Secret is once revealed very plain and easie to the meanest Capacity But in such Differences as these there is usually a double Secret the one Supernatural managed by invisible Ministers of the Divine Providence the other Natural and Humane proceeding from Error of the Vnderstanding or Corruption of the Will and Affections in one or both of the Parties And for the most part there are Faults on both sides if not from the beginning at least in the Progress and Continuance of the Difference For it is no unfrequent thing for such as have a Good Cause at first to spoil it in the Management And such is the Case in these Differences in Religion which have so long infested this part of the World Wherein the Supernatural Secret is the Operation of those Invisible Powers by the Commission or Permission of God for Correction of what was and is amiss in the several Parties among whom they arose the Consideration of which belonging more properly to Divines I shall say nothing of it here But of those Differences the first and most considerable are those between the Roman Church and those who pretend a Reformation And the Natural and Humane Secret in them lies in certain Faults on both sides The Faults and Scandals of the Papacy and Court of Rome were so gross and notorious that all good and intelligent People groaned for a Reformation long before Luther was born But the Faults of them who pretended to that Work will appear when well considered no less neither in Number nor Nature There is none of them all that

soon perceived all this that I have here said and more very clearly and some things which relate to the Civil State and present Settlement of this Nation of which I soon gave an account to such Persons as I thought most proper to acquaint His Majesty with it to discharge my own Conscience what-ever was farther done in it I do not deny but there was need of a Reformation of divers things but none know better than your Lordships and the Gentlemen of your Profession how common a thing it is for Men who have really a good Cause to make it ill through Passion Partiality unreasonable Demands or Charges and such ill Management as if it come to Tryal it must be found against them or tho' it be not Good yet through Partiality or Prejudice to think it Good and then when by degrees they have well fixed and rivetted that Opinion and besides engaged their Reputation in it to persuade themselves that those things are lawful for the Maintenance of it which in truth are not and those things useful or necessary which in conclusion will but expose and ruine it how much Mischief People thus affected frequently bring upon themselves and others and endless Vexations when obstinate in their Opinion resolute in their Demands and pertinacious in their Contentions right or wrong how undecent and unbecoming even in Civil Matters this appears to all wise and good Men who have Opportunity to observe the Truth of the Case On the other side how much more Prudent it is as well as Just and Honest if a Man have the Misfortune to purchase an ill Title or be unhappily concerned in an ill Cause to indeavour to make it Good by fair Agreement with Parties concerned and Tender of what is just and reasonable and such honest Means as will at least secure his Reputation if not his Cause also however much mend the matter This has been always my Practice and this I am resolved to do in this Case of what I have discover'd upon my Review aforesaid I do utterly disclaim all the Iniquity of the Case that I have already discovered or can discover all the Sacrilege Schism and Heresie and other Corruptions of the pretended Reformation in general and of that of England in particular And tho' I do not forsake the Corruptions of this Church to espouse those of another yet I think fit to make my own Cause good and to stand only upon such Terms as I can comfortably refer to the Goodness and Mercy of God and as I am satisfied will make it their Faults not mine who shall refuse Agreement and Communion with me What I think prudent in my own Case if it be so indeed I could wish the whole Nation did see it as well as I For I believe it a more firm Foundation for a lasting Peace and true Happiness than any other we can build upon And if I be not mistaken in the Matters in Difference there is scarce any but such as many principal Men of the one side think ought to be yielded by them or as all on the other confess may for just Cause be granted by them or may be otherwise accommodated by only fit Explications and Expressions To which since the most considerable on both sides have shewed a very good Disposition and the Nature and Precepts of the Gospel and the Peace and Repose and Common Good of Mankind especially in this part of the World which may have a great Influence upon the rest do require it I believe it would be for the Honour and Interest of which side soever should do it to make the Proposal provided it be very just and reasonable Of those Matters which are thought ought to be yielded this which I propose to your Lordships Consideration concerning the ancient Practice of Prayers for the Dead is one and the most proper Instance that can be in all respects It is indeed a double Instance for it is a plain Evidence that one of the principal Suppositions with which not only Multitudes of People in these last Ages but ever since the first Ages of Christianity have been deceived and misted with very plausible pretence is notwithstanding false in it self besides fallacious misapplications of what is true as appears abundantly by Irenaeus Tertullian and the Common Practice of the Ancient Christians in their Contests with Hereticks and Schismaticks And it is in its self one of the greatest Instances of the Power of Prejudice to abuse weak Men out of their apparent Interest without any other competent ground or reason of the Weakness of Men to be so abused and of the Inconsiderateness of those who presume to be positive and direct others in such Cases that I know of My intention at first was to have published a Vindication of the True English Liturgy the first Book of Ed. 6. composed by known English Clergy-Men and afterward corrupted and disordered by Cranmer and a Faction of Foreigners and other unknown Calvinian Sectaries in Secret and so craftily imposed upon the Church and Nation But when I considered in these unhappy Differences how partially Zealous the Generality of Clergy-Men who have any Zeal at all are for their own Party more than for the common Concerns of Religion or of their Country and how unconcerned the chief of the Clergy of this Nation are and have been ever since the State assumed the Supream Power of Ecclesiastical Matters as if either dispirited or presuming that the Care also is incumbent only upon them who have assumed the Power and how little I have found by Experience is to be expected from them and on the other side how necessary notwithstanding it is for the Peace and Repose of this Nation that the Occasions of such mischievous Dissentions should be better considered and removed I presently perceived I had a fair Opportunity in this to present a proper instance of a Matter of such Importance to Persons as well qualified to judge and who were likely to be as sensible of the Importance of it as any and thereupon concluded to present it alone to the Consideration of Your Lordships and the Gentlemen of Your Honourable Profession having already as to the rest made a considerable Experiment of what I have here said of the Hopes we may have of a good Success if they to whom it doth belong will but do what is in their Power towards it For having published a Liturgy Entituled The Liturgy of the Ancients represented as near as well may be in English Forms not much different only a little more compleat from that Restitution of the True English Liturgy attempted by the Scotch with the Assistance of the Principal of the English Bishops Anno 1637. I presented it to some of the principal learned Men first of the English who much approved it and wished it restored by Law then of the Lutherans who also approved it and declared their Satisfaction to communicate in that Form and at last of the Roman